The present invention relates to a container or a storage device for magnetic tape cassettes of the basic design set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,229 or modifications thereof as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,702,372 or 4,738,361 or 4,828,341 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
These conventional devices comprise a housing and a transporter slidably guided in said housing and adapted to carry a cassette. The transporter slider is spring-biassed towards an open or removal position and may be locked or latched within the housing in a storing position. The latch may be manually released.
The known devices are designed to receive the well-known standard compact cassettes which exhibit freely accessible tape reels. When stored and subjected to vibrations, e.g. in a vehicle, there is a risk that the tape reels are inadvertently rotated and the cassette may become destroyed due to so-called "tape salad". Therefore, the known containers are provided with blocking members integrally formed with the slider so as to engage into the tape reels and to lock them.
Recently, a novel type of cassette has appeared under the designation "DCC" or digitally recorded cassette. Such cassettes permit improved reproduction quality over that of conventional compact cassettes with analog recording. Recorders developed for such DCC cassettes are able to reproduce from DCC cassettes but also from conventional cassettes. Consequently, the exterior appearance of the two cassette types is quite similar. There are, however, two significant differences: While the standard compact cassette exhibits protruding head face portions of trapezoid contour such protruding portions are not present with DCC cassettes. Further, DCC cassettes are equipped with shutters shielding the tape reels against intrusion of dust; the reels are locked within the cassette until the reels are exposed upon placing the cassette into the reproducing apparatus whereby the shutters are displaced.
It will be understood that the conventional cassette containers are not suited for storing of DCC cassettes because of their tape reel blocking members, necessitating design of a device specifically adapted to receive DCC cassettes. Since, however, the reproducing apparatus may use both types of cassettes and it is not predictable what cassette type will be the preferred one of a particular person, there is a need to provide a cassette container adapted to receive either type of cassette.